Escape
by Skipprocks
Summary: Songfic. A late night listening to Rupert Holmes gave me this idea....


Ok, I wrote this at 1.30 in the morning, so if it seems a bit strange, blame it on the hour and Rupert Holmes! It just screamed to be made part of a story....And I don't own the song or the characters, except for Alex's roommate, she's kind of like one I had once.

Review and let me know what you think....

Enjoy!

Escape (The Pina Colada Song)  
Rupert Holmes  
  
_I was tired of my lady  
We'd been together too long  
Like a worn-out recording  
Of a favourite song  
So while she lay there sleeping  
I read the paper in bed  
And in the personal columns  
There was this letter I read_

The song was playing in the background faintly and it gave Billy an idea. One he would have never had the courage to go through with if it weren't for the fact that he was on his sixth beer of the night. He had been admiring her in quiet for so long now that the possibility of his bursting was becoming an alarming option at this point.

He got up from the table at Haggarty's where he was drinking with the rest of the guys, said good night and cast a long look at her dancing by the jukebox with some of the other women from the precinct. Smiling, he thought it might just work, seeing as she was the one who had selected the song in the first place. 

Billy looked at the paper in his hand, freshly printed out from his computer. It had taken almost half an hour to find a set of lyrics on the Internet that seemed to sound right to him. He supposed that the next time he decided to look something up on the Internet, being drunk might not be such a good idea. Shaking his head he gave the paper one last read to make sure it was okay.  
  
Alex

_If you like Pina Coladas  
And getting caught in the rain  
If you're not into yoga  
If you have half a brain  
If you'd like making love at midnight  
In the dunes on the Cape  
Then I'm the love that you've looked for  
Write to me and escape._

Meet me at O'Malley's, noon tomorrow

He had added on the last bit, knowing it wasn't really in that part of the song, but there _was _a bar called O'Malley's just a few blocks from her apartment and he thought it would be fitting. It was three o'clock in the morning and he desperately hoped she would get it in time.

Sealing the envelope, Walsh headed out his door and into the brisk early morning air. The cold seemed to have a sobering effect on him, and he suddenly had second thoughts about what he was doing. She could think he was crazy, a freak for doing this. She might not even remember it was the song she was dancing to the night before. Or....she could feel the same way and think it was incredibly sweet, a wonderful story to tell in the future of how they got together. Hoping like mad that she would choose the second option, and having already arrived at her front door, Walsh took a deep breath and slipped in past someone on their way out.

Alex awoke to the sound of her roommate singing in the shower and the smell of coffee. It was eight o'clock in the morning and even though she was normally pretty grouchy in the mornings the sound of Amelia singing in the shower made her laugh. Stumbling into the kitchen, the _Pina Colada _song still in her head from the previous night, Alex poured herself a large mug of coffee and sat down at the table to fully wake up.

"Hey, Alex!" She could hear Amelia close the door and walk into the room.

"Yeah?" she replied, head resting on the table in a look of hung over defeat. _Come on coffee, kick in! Amelia's already chipper enough for three of us...._

"This was half sticking under our door. Has your name on it."  
  
Turning the white envelope over in her hands, Alex was puzzled as to who could have stuck it under their door. Her name was printed from a computer so there was no chance of handwriting giving it away.

"What the hell is this?"  
"Open it! We won't find out any other way !"  
Alex shot her friend a withering look.

"Don't look at me that way. Maybe it's that firefighter of yours declaring his love for you finally. I swear, the last time I was out with the lot of you guys the two of you couldn't keep your eyes off each other. Of course, it would have been too simple to stare at each other at the same time, so neither one of you really knows how the other feels."

"Amelia, I've told you it's ridiculous to think Billy's interested in me. The last woman he dated was nothing like I am. And if you keep that up I'll break the truth to dear Bosco and let him know you really are single, and would love to go on a date with him. You've been lying to him about that fictional boyfriend for what, six months now?"

Raising her hands in defeat from the coffee pot, Amelia said,

"Fine, fine. I get the point; just open the letter will you? I need to be at work in an hour!"

Ripping into the envelope Alex felt her face redden as she read the lyrics to her favourite song. She was about to tell Amelia what it was when she felt the paper being snatched from her hands.

"I don't believe it. Someone was cute enough to quote that weird song you like? And to ask you for a meeting at the O'Malley's around the corner? I bet it is that Billy guy. You know, you two would look really good together."

"Amelia, stop. I don't even know if it was him. It could be some freak looking to set me up."  
Looking like she had just been told there would be no more coffee in their apartment, ever again, Amelia looked sadly at her friend.

"So, you're not going then?"  
"Oh, I am most definitely going to O'Malley's today, but I am not going to get my hopes up. Understand?"

Finding herself suddenly wrapped in a huge hug that almost squeezed the air out of her, Alex could hear the other woman squeal in delight.

"Perfect! I have to run, call and let me know exactly what happens!"

The door slammed shut behind Amelia, and Alex slowly made her way into the bathroom in need of a pause and a really hot shower.

_I didn't think about my lady  
I know that sounds kind of mean  
But me and my old lady  
Have fallen into the same old dull routine  
So I wrote to the paper  
Took out a personal ad  
And though I'm nobody's poet  
I thought it wasn't half bad_

The sky was a slate grey colour and looked like it might open up at any minute. Loving the cool autumn weather, Alex decided to forego an umbrella and just take her chances, either way the rain would feel good. Rounding the corner, she took a deep breath and opened the door.

Billy Walsh sat at a booth to the right of the bar and kept a watchful eye on the door. He had never been so nervous for anything in his life. The waitress approached him asking for his order, and just as he turned his head to ask for a coffee, the bell jingled, signalling a new arrival.

Allowing a second for her eyes to adjust to the dimness of the bar, Alex spotted him right away. Feeling the air in her lungs momentarily sucked out, she smiled slightly and walked toward him. She had promised herself that if it really was him she would do this. There would be no way he could misinterpret her actions.

Once she got to the table, face already red from what she was about to do, Alex began to softly sing._  
_

"Yes I like Pina Coladas  
And getting caught in the rain  
I'm not much into health food  
I am into champagne  
I've got to meet you by tomorrow noon  
And cut through all this red-tape  
At a bar called O'Malley's  
Where we'll plan our escape."  
  
_So I waited with high hopes  
And she walked in the place  
I knew her smile in an instant  
I knew the curve of her face  
It was my own lovely lady  
And she said, "Oh it's you."  
Then we laughed for a moment  
And I said, "I never knew."  
_

Walsh couldn't believe what he was hearing. Everyone else in the bar turned to look at them, and when he got up to hug her, they started clapping. Embarrassed by the attention suddenly placed upon them, he turned to her, brown eyes gazing down into bright blue ones.

"Wanna get out of here?"  
"Hell, yeah."

He led her out into the street and as they got onto the sidewalk the sky opened up sending a wave of rain down on them. As the others on the crowded street ran for cover, the two looked at each other smiling foolishly.

"I was hoping it was you, Billy."  
"Yeah?"

Pushing the wet hair out of her eyes, she looked up at him suddenly feeling nervous, giddy, and weak kneed.

"Yeah. How did you know it was my favourite song?"  
Laughing, he held his hands up, trapping some of the rain in his palms.

"I didn't. I've liked you, really liked you, for so long now Alex. I saw you dancing to that song last night at the bar and thought, if I'm going to do something about this, what better way? But then by that time I had also gone through six beers, so pretty much anything concerning you seemed like a really good idea. I can't believe you sang to me back there."

Loving the sensation of the cool rain rolling down her head and back, Alex reached for his hand, surprised at how big it felt in her own.

"I told myself that if it was you in O'Malley's today then I didn't want there to be any confusion as to how I felt. Short of jumping on you in public, it was the best thing I could think of. Besides, it's not every day I get a Rupert Holmes song under my door first thing in the morning."

Alex was a little taken aback when she felt his hands on her cheeks, bringing her close to him for the kiss she had played out in her head for so long.

Breaking away and looking into Walsh's eyes, she feared she may get lost there.

_That you like Pina Coladas  
Getting caught in the rain  
And the feel of the ocean  
And the taste of champagne  
If you'd like making love at midnight  
In the dunes of the Cape  
You're the lady I've looked for  
Come with me and escape  
_

"You feel like escaping this afternoon?"

"Oh, hell, yeah." Alex said, smiling as he took her hand and led her down the wet street.

Fin


End file.
